Located in Derbyshire, Swadlincote Windows has been in operation since 1998 and has a well-earned reputation for delivering high quality, bespoke projects for property owners throughout the East Midlands and beyond.
John Birch, Swadlincote’s Managing Director, comments, “Our fabrication operation has been working with the same machinery for over a decade, and we knew that we needed to upgrade to something more efficient. There were times when we wanted to buy a machining centre, but because of the usual blame game between machinery companies and systems houses when something goes wrong, we held off on making a purchase,” explains John.
Everything changed
In 2019, Liniar launched the UK’s first double-rebated flush sash PVCu window – Resurgence and Swadlincote Windows wanted to be one of the first companies to offer this high end product to its discerning customers. It was during the process where Swadlincote Windows was tooling up to enable the fabrication of Liniar’s suite of windows that the fabricator was able to see the relationship between Avantek Machinery and Liniar and this partnership changed everything.
During this process, John had the chance to discuss Avantek Machinery’s cutting and machining centre the Supercut with Sales Director Jamie Munday. After seeing the collaboration between the two companies, he knew purchasing a Supercut was in the company’s future.
Getting the ball rolling
While the decision to purchase a Supercut was an easy one, Swadlincote Windows needed to get things in order before Avantek was able to deliver and install the machinery.
“There were things we needed to take care of before we could proceed with the install. Avantek even allowed us to borrow a copy router as a stop-gap measure in the meantime to help us get through before our Supercut was delivered. This exceptional customer service is what we’ve come to expect as standard from both Liniar and Avantek,” comments John.
Finally, in mid-October, the Avantek team arrived with Swadlincote Windows’ Supercut and the install was completed within two weeks.
Finished product
We asked John how the installation went, if there were any issues and how the Supercut has changed the processes at his facility:
“First, let me start by saying that Swadlincote Windows isn’t your average fabricator. Whilst the Supercut 5 does allow fabricators to produce more frames per week with consistent quality; we’re not concerned about the number of frames we are fabricating – as long as they stand up to our high standards of quality.
“For example, last year, white was one of the least ordered colours of frames from our customers. Our bespoke projects typically are coloured frames now, instead of white. Which means lower frame counts for each job instead of doing en masse production. What the Supercut did for was increasing efficiency – the job that the Supercut does was being done by several machines and several employees. The Supercut has allowed us to free up employees for more value-added tasks,” John comments.
“Since the installation of the Supercut we’ve had no issues whatsoever with the machinery and if we had any questions or concerns one call to the Avantek team and it would be sorted.
“2020 has not been an average year by any means and despite the issues with lockdowns, Force Majeurs and problems at the ports, I have to say that Liniar and Avantek have been nothing but professional and we’re delighted with everything in light of the current situation. Both companies do everything they can to make sure customers are aware of any changes, and there haven’t been any surprises.
Discover more about Avantek Machinery and how it could help bring your company’s fabrication operation into the 21st century by visiting www.avantekmachinery.co.uk.
Visit www.swadlincotewindows.com to see the fabricator’s full portfolio of projects and learn how they can make help turn your project into reality.
